{"id":7683,"date":"2026-06-10T17:16:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7683"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:18:33","slug":"bastard-doctor-gong-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7683","title":{"rendered":"Bastard \u2018Doctor Gong\u2019 premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Pre-Damned proto-punk from 1974, unearthed. It\u2019s time for BASTARD<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=745264559\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some records arrive fashionably late. Others, like this one, take 52 years and are worth the wait.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the first time, recordings by Bastard \u2013 the short-lived band featuring future The Damned guitarist and songwriter Brian James and future Elton Motello frontman Alan Ward \u2014 are being released to the public. The release comes courtesy of Amsterdam-based punk and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll label Wap Shoo Wap Records as a special celebration of the label&#8217;s 30th release.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Formed in Crawley, England, Bastard quickly built a reputation as a hard-living, high-energy outfit, playing Hell&#8217;s Angels clubhouses, biker parties and dive bars across the UK and Belgium.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recorded in 1974 and unheard ever since, the two tracks on this single capture a moment when British rock was still wrapped up in flares, prog excess and the last embers of glam. Bastard, however, were already pushing against those boundaries. Raw, loud, urgent and undeniably ahead of their time, these recordings offer a fascinating glimpse of the musical DNA that would soon help fuel the punk explosion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The A-side, \u2018Doctor Gong\u2019, opens with an ominous riff reminiscent of John Carpenter&#8217;s <em>Halloween<\/em> theme \u2014 despite being recorded several years before the film&#8217;s release. Brian James&#8217; lead guitar work channels the ferocious energy of MC5&#8217;s Wayne Kramer, while echoes of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper can also be heard throughout the track.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7686\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bastard_1_band-691x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bastard_1_band-691x1024.png 691w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bastard_1_band-202x300.png 202w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bastard_1_band.png 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\"><strong>Band Members:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\">Brian James \u2013 Guitar<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\">Alan Ward \u2013 Vocals<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\">Nobby Goff \u2013 Drums<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\">Dez Lover \u2013 Bass<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the flip side, \u2018Comfort\u2019 finds the street-level menace of The Stooges colliding with the razor-sharp rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll instincts of The Flamin&#8217; Groovies, resulting in a powerful snapshot of a band operating years ahead of its time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within a few years, Brian James would go on to write and record with The Damned, including \u2018New Rose\u2019, widely recognised as the first UK punk single and a cornerstone of British punk-rock. Alan Ward would achieve international notoriety with Elton Motello, whose \u2018Jet Boy, Jet Girl\u2019 remains one of punk&#8217;s most infamous and enduring anthems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For decades, these recordings survived only as rumour, memory and ageing tape. Now, they have finally been unearthed, restored and made available for a new generation of listeners, collectors and punk devotees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The release will be available as a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl pressing, strictly limited to 300 copies worldwide, and can be pre-order from Wap Shoo Wap Records\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wapshoowaprecords.bigcartel.com\/product\/bastard-dr-gong-comfort-single\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BASTARD: LONG-LOST 1974 PROTO-PUNK BAND FEAT. BRIAN JAMES (THE DAMNED) &amp; ALAN WARD (ELTON MOTELLO)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ia-R-AWfbxU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>SOCIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wapshoowaprecords\/\">Insta<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wapshoowaprecords\/\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7683&amp;t=Bastard%20%E2%80%98Doctor%20Gong%E2%80%99%20premiere&amp;s=100&amp;p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7683&amp;p[images][0]=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F06%2Fa3579532562_10.jpg&amp;p[title]=Bastard%20%E2%80%98Doctor%20Gong%E2%80%99%20premiere\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7683&amp;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Bastard%20%E2%80%98Doctor%20Gong%E2%80%99%20premiere&amp;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7683\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pre-Damned proto-punk from 1974, unearthed. It\u2019s time for BASTARD \ufeff\ufeff Some records arrive fashionably late. Others, like this one, take 52 years and are worth the wait. For the first time, recordings by Bastard \u2013 the short-lived band featuring future The Damned guitarist and songwriter Brian James and future Elton Motello frontman Alan Ward \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1257,1258,363],"class_list":["post-7683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-videos","tag-bastard","tag-brian-james","tag-the-damned","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7683"}],"version-history":[{"count":-1,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}